Light and Shadows
by TheUltimateGambit91
Summary: When Marie Darkholme is hired to tutor and care for a mysterious widower's young daughter, various mysteries and fearsome shadows of the past begin to unravel before her. ROMY.
1. Prologue

_**Hey everyone. I've had this plot kicking around in my head and on a couple of unfinished plot drafts for years now and I think I've finally found the right packaging and style I want. ;) Hope you enjoy it.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, they are the property of Marvel Inc. **_

_**-Gams**_

_**Prologue**_

_Dear Marie,_

_I imagine you would find this rather old-fashioned receiving a hand-written letter (from an almost stranger no less!) but I haven't the patience to learn how this e-mail business works and since I could not contact you by telephone, here we are. My name is Mattie Baptiste and I am an old friend of your aunt Irene Adler. Though you may not remember, I did see you a few times on your visits to your aunt's house in Mississippi. What mischief you got up to! Of course I imagine that you've grown up a good deal since! Mais enough of this old lady's ramblings. I am writing in hopes that you would be interested in taking on the position of tutor and carer of my Godson's daughter; Madeleine. You see, our last tutor sadly passed away last month and we are in dire need of a new tutor. I remember hearing from dear Irene that you had completed a teaching degree some two years ago. I also understand that you are seeking long-term employment? I hope you don't mind but I took the liberty of asking your dear mother Raven about you. As you can see, we are quite desperate for someone to take on the job. Madeleine is eight years old and a wonderful child but lacks a certain sense discipline that I am sure you could provide. My Godson currently has little time to raise a child on his own but is adamant on having Madeleine home-schooled. Obviously, we would require you to take residence here with us in New Orleans indefinitely. Payments will be monthly (should you require something sooner, I am certain it can be arranged) and I insist we pay for you and your belongings to be brought over. No exceptions chér!_

_Take time to think about it dear. And if you could call me on the telephone number below by the end of this week with your answer that would be wonderful._

_Merci ma chér! I look forward to meeting you again!_

_Say hello to your mother for me,_

_Mattie Baptiste _

_**X**_

_**If no one has picked it up yet, this will be loosely based off the plot concept of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. So obviously, this'll be a present-time AU story. **_

_**Think I should write a VERY big first chapter to accompany this? **_

_**REVIEW!**_

**-Gams **


	2. A New Beginning for All

_**Thanks for the reviews guys!**_

_**-Gams**_

**Chapter One – A New Beginning for All**

Mattie Baptiste gave a roll of her warm, brown eyes as she watched the man before her glower silently through the window. The glass panels reflected the bitter expression on his handsome face, giving the elderly woman full view of her Godson's foul mood. _Mon Dieu,_ she thought to herself as she closed her book and set it down on the desk. She knew that expression far too well.

"Y' best not show that face wit' such a look when de new tutor arrives. Scare de poor _chér_ off an' where would be we."

The man gave an indifferent sniff as he finally turned away from the window and the clear view of the driveway. His voice rolled like silk off the tongue despite its sarcastic overtone.

"Still don't know _why_ is it I let y' talk moi into dis idea Tante."

His voiced scepticism was met with a hard look of her own. With one brow raised and her lips slightly pursed in a disapproving frown, the elder woman dared him to continue. When he merely took another sip of his coffee, she spoke up.

"It is a _perfectly_ sound idea m' boy. She is more dan qualified Remy. Dere's no denyin' it."

_Remy_ gave a low snort.

"She's _une bébe!"_ (a baby!)

"_She_ is twenty-four _et_ a responsible young _femme._"

"She is _too young _Tante! She has no _experience-_"

"Her resume says otherwise!"

"She has no _real experience-"_

"She 'as all de qualifications of a tutor _et_ carer! Y' should count us lucky we were fortunate enough t' find her or _anyone _at all!"

The pair glared at one another, both too stubborn to crumble under the other's front of intimidation. A minute of silence passed before Remy decided to speak. Crossing his arms across his chest, he leant against the window frame as he replied moodily.

"She is still too young. _Et _Madeleine is a handful _et_ a half."

Tante Mattie rolled her eyes once more but this time a winsome smile spread across her plump lips.

"_Mon Dieu _Remy. Y' are de _oldest young man_ ever t' walk dis Earth sometimes. So narrow dat mind o' yours is dese days, I wonder how it is y' sell any o' y' books! I 'ave heard not'ing but a world of good t'ings about dis young _woman et_ after Mrs Parson's passing, I t'ink a fresh face is jus' what Madeleine needs. It would do us_ all_ some good."

Remy continued to look stern and sceptic.

"_Et _wipe dat awful look off y' face! An' don't y' say or do not'ing t' make Marie feel unwelcome when she arrives tomorrow evenin'. I raised y' a gentleman _et _dat's how it's goin' t' look when she come 'ere! _D'accord?_" (Alright?)

Remy gave a disgruntled roll of his eyes as he returned to glowering out the window. He had grown more than used to his _Tante's_ reprimanding. He was sure to be scolded until he became gray and wrinkled with age! He rested his arm against the window frame and narrowed his gaze on the metal gates in the distance. When Mrs Parson had suddenly died he had returned immediately to deal with the tragedy in his household but being far too busy with his own work, he had handed the task of finding his daughter a tutor and a proper nanny to his Godmother. No less than a month later, he was informed that she had found a suitable replacement. He had been sceptical from the start and now, with reason. He had read through _Marie Darkholme's_ resume and while he had to admit that she was qualified, her age and lack of _real life _experience was something he found difficult to overlook.

Turning away from the window, he neared the table where the new tutor's resume lay and picked it up. He skimmed through it once more with a wary frown.

He gave a brief snort.

"She's an _Artist_ too. _Fantastic."_

**X**

_A week later..._

The humid air was a refreshing change to the boxed-in air conditioning of the train cabs. The moment Marie Darkholme stepped out of the train cab and into the Louisiana heat; she stopped to take it all in in one deep breath. She closed her eyes and inhaled the spicy sweetness of it and couldn't help but smile to herself. It had been years since her last visit to New Orleans and to say she had missed it, its smell, taste, its magical feel, was an understatement. Being raised in Mississippi, New Orleans had been a frequent part of her life. Her mother used to drive her and her brothers there whether it be for Mardi Grass or during school breaks. The sense of nostalgia returned the moment she breathed in its familiar scent.

It was like coming home after an eternity.

After grabbing her bags and piling it onto a luggage cart, she came out of the station with the turbulent crowd. Pushing through, she managed to find a vacant, shaded spot and pulled out a crumpled letter from her jeans pocket.

"_James Howlett will pick you up from station at 3pm. Look for a man with dark hair. Don't be put off by his rough-n-gruff disposition..."_

Marie could not help but chuckle to herself. Logan sounded like a _ball of fun_ from what Tante Mattie had described. Turning to the bustling street, she turned her eyes over the crowd looking for this _James Howlett with the rough-n-gruff disposition._ She was close to ringing Mattie by phone when her gaze landed on a stocky, dark-haired man leaning against the side of a large, black yute. One look at that ever-scowling face, she knew she'd found _rough-n-gruff _mister Howlett.

He noticed her immediately as soon as she began to push her cart towards him. He unfolded his arms and unlocked the back of the yute before stepping towards her himself. He tipped the wide-brimmed cow-boy hat on his head before holding out a hand for her to shake. She introduced herself first.

"Ya mus' be _James Howlett?"_

He replied as firmly as his handshake.

"_Logan_. So you're the new tutor for the runt huh?"

She nearly snorted amusedly when a rough, clearly-not-Louisianan accent came out of his mouth. Given the location and the black cowboy hat, she had suspected a Cajun accent to boot.

"_Rogue._ And yes, ah'm the new tutor for _Madeleine LeBeau_."

He gave her one quirked brow and a hint of a smirk kindled in his blue eyes but did not say anything about her odd nick-name. Instead he began to lug her bags into the back of the yute and no sooner was her luggage secure, they were climbing into the front and driving off. Rogue watched remnants of her childhood memories pass before her eyes as they drove through the old city, past the classic buildings and the mixed crowd of locals and tourists going about their own ways. There was silence for a while before _Rogue_ decided to start a conversation with the silent man.

"So...what exactly are _ya_ to the LeBeaus?"

Logan grunted irritably but no sooner had he done so, replied gruffly.

"I tend the estate's grounds, fix what needs fixing..."

He seemed rather recluse this Logan character but his rough exterior hardly put Rogue off talking further.

"So pretty much, handyman on the grounds huh?"

"Pretty much kid."

"Not a cowboy in any means?" 

He raised one of his furry brows at her.

"What?"

Rogue pointed to her head, lining the invisible outline of the cowboy hat rim.

"That cowboy hat. Nearly took ya for a sheep rustler not a handyman gamekeeper."

Logan gave a low grunt and shook his head but said nothing else. Rogue couldn't help but smile. She could see very clearly how fun stirring this man up would be in the times to come. After another short silence, after clearing the city limits, Logan chose to speak.

"Been to New Orleans b'fore kid?"

Rogue nodded, smiling as she took in the familiar tall, draping trees on either side of the road.

"Came here a lot when ah was little, bein' so close to home."

"But you're from Mississippi?"

She gave a proud smile as she replied in tease.

"Sure am. Ah'm surprised mah accent didn't _give it away_."

He almost smiled. After a moment or two, Rogue took her turn to ask a question.

"How 'bout yah sugah? Ya obviously not from these parts ya self."

He did smirk this time.

"Canada, _originally._ Came here by New York a few years back."

Rogue nodded as she took in the stocky Canadian with new eyes. Hardly the cowboy the hat implied, she looked for something else to pin-point. Her gaze landed on a pair of silver dog tags peeking out from his jacket collar. Her brow furrowed with curiosity when she realised the name _Wolverine _was printed across both tags. She obviously had been staring too long, because tucked them under his shirt collar and out of sight.

"Were ya in the army or somethin'?"

Logan kept his eyes on the now open, tree-hedged road and replied.

"Somethin' like that."

Rogue shrugged, took the _'don't-ask'_ hint and turned her eyes back on the road as well. They were out of the city limits now, away from the suburban areas and sinking deeper into the thickest part of the swamp lands. The trees grew rougher, more looming as they passed through. Rogue wondered what would possess someone to live so far away from everything.

"_Someone with reasons ah guess..."_

She knew very little about her employer, Remy LeBeau other than that he was a celebrated crime author and incredibly private about his personal life (or so the articles she read told her). Mattie Baptiste was a vaguely familiar face, a woman who had helped care for her Aunt Irene in the years leading up to her death. She gave a small smile at the memory of the burly Cajun woman. She remembered little of Mattie, only that the woman used to put both her and her brothers in line like no other could. But then she also doted on them unlike any other too. She rather looked forward to hearing about how well the woman remembered her child-self.

"Somethin' funny Stripes?"

Rogue turned and frowned at the new nick-name.

"Excuse meh?"

The Canadian actually cracked a half of a smile.

"That dye job of yours an _act of rebellion_ against the parents?"

Rogue rolled her eyes but couldn't help the small grin from spreading across her face. She smoothed her fingers through one of the shock-white streaks that framed her face as she replied.

"Trust meh, rebellion had nothin' to do with it."

He left it at that, for at that moment they turned onto a gravel road concealed by great, looming branches that spread from the either side. Like clawed fingers, they acted like a road tunnel only to finish at a pair of great, metal gates. They screeched noisily as they opened after Logan entered a code into a lock pad.

It was then that Rogue first glimpsed her new home.

It was like something out of an old Southern plantation painting in all its grandness. But with an air about it that Rogue couldn't quite describe or pin-point, and usually she was quick to try. For one of the few times, she was baffled by what she saw. And Lord was it a sight. It loomed over them like a giant with tall, white, pillars for teeth and old shutter-fastened windows for eyes. There was two stories and an attic above at the least, with pillars outlining every side of the house like an outer cage. Logan gave a husky chuckle at Rogue's expense when she did not stop gaping at it. He was already out of the car and pulling out her bags from the back of the yute when she finally broke out of her gaping trance. She got out of the yute and took a few careful steps towards the mansion. Her eyes still glued firmly on the white and green fortress.

"_Lord_, ah feel lahke ah've gone an' walked onto the set of _Gone with the Wind_ or somethin'..."

Logan gave another low chortle of amusement as he carried her bags onto the front porch.

"It ain't gonna bite _Stripes_. Though, I can't say the same for the _runt._ You'll have your hands full there._"_

Though she was certain it was to break the anxiety she was beginning to feel now that she was _here_, she managed to gulp down a breath of air before following Logan to the front door. She hardly had a moment to compose herself before the great door was flung open and the vaguely familiar form of Tante Mattie appeared in the doorway. The elderly woman let out a great cry of delight before wrapping her into a death-hold of a hug. Rogue caught Logan smirking from the sidelines while the woman's back was turned. Finally, after setting her back on her feet just about, Tante Mattie began to look her over like clock-work. Her amber-coloured eyes darting up and down and over her like a kindly health inspector in a kitchen. Rogue tried not to look discomforted by it as the woman exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

"Oh y' 'ave grown up t' be a _belle femme_ Marie _ma chér!_ Jus' look at y'! Dis ol' bird can hardly believe her eyes! Why, last time I see y', y' was runnin' loose wit' y' _deux frères _an' _now_ look at y'! A young, _belle femme_ all grown up..."

The gushing continued as Tante Mattie ushered them inside. She sent Logan to put Rogue's bags upstairs as she directed Rogue into the large kitchen before she could so much as turn her head or open her mouth to speak. Not five minutes later Tante Mattie was practically force feeding her cake and coffee, in the defence that she was much too skinny.

"But don't y' worry none chére, we gonna feed y' properly. Y' don't get de chance t' cook too often where y' were up North I heard? Where was it again_ chér_?"

"Uh- Bayville, ma'am. Ah worked at the academy since ah graduated an' they provided all the meals-"

The elderly woman let out a haughty snort and put her hands on her rounded hips.

"No offence t' de Northerners _chér_, _mais _dey don't know how t' fill a belly properly wit' all dem _quick-n-easy_ meals they buy from the shoppin' malls an' what not. Won't find no such t'ings in my kitchen! I don't buy not'ing dat ain't fresh an' naturally grown! An' don't y' go callin' me _'ma'am' _y' hear chil'? Y' call m' Tante like everyone else. _Oui?_" (yes?)

Rogue nodded, quickly finding that though it was hard to get a word in once Mattie was wound up, she was beginning to like her very much. She was a dear old soul, a Cajun Mama through and through as she practically force fed her until she was satisfied she was truly _full._ Living with her wouldn't be dull in the slightest or gentle on her figure, with the amount of food she had already unleashed upon her.

A few minutes later, after a helping or two of cake, Tante Mattie showed her to her room. Along the way, Rogue was given the chance to give the insides of the giant mansion a first look. The furnishings were very traditional, with wooden and marble surfaces and even an old grandfather clock ticking in a corner wall. A grand chandelier hung from the vastly tall ceiling while long, narrow rugs covered the floor and stairwell. Rogue's eyes drank in the many paintings on the walls, each probably being something out of the decade the house was built. Tante Mattie caught her wide-eyed glances and gave a small chuckle.

"See somet'ing spectacular _ma chér_?"

Rogue gave a dazed half-chuckle.

"A few spectacular things, Tante. Ah've never really seen a house quite lahke this one."

Tante Mattie brushed off her compliment with a knowing smile.

"Y' are too sweet chil'. Tis' just a house like any other in dis state. Though, I 'ave to admit not too many youngin's like y' go for dis kind o' furnishings dese days. Tis' a shame, I personally don't see what's so _spectacular _about a tea table wit' not'ing but legs an' a top."

Rogue could only chuckle silently as she followed Mattie up the last of the stairs. There, they ran into a retreating Logan. He tipped his hat-less head towards Mattie in a respectful manner but to her, he gave a small crack of a smile and said.

"Good luck with the runt, _Stripes._"

Rogue, in return, gave a mockery of an army salute and chimed back.

"Thanks for takin' mah bags up _Wolvie._"

Logan was part way down the steps when she said it, and stopped rather abruptly before giving a mild grunt and continuing on down the stairs. It was after he passed the door that Tante Mattie spoke up in an oddly mystified voice.

"Y' mus' be a _particular_ _femme_ if Logan did not take offence t' dat name-callin' _chér_."

Rogue furrowed her brow in confusion.

"Ah saw his dog tags...ah was jus' foolin'. Why?"

Tante Mattie gave a small sigh and shrugged. She lifted her skirt a little to mount the last of the stairs.

"He be an awfully secretive man Marie, whatever it is, it is his business t' tell. Mind y', he hasn't even told my Remy. I wouldn't t'ink too hard on it. Best let him alone about it."

Rogue followed in silent agreement. Tante Mattie led her down the corridor on the second floor to the door at the very end. She gave her an anxious look before opening the door and allowing her to go in first. Rogue felt a jolt of excitement stab her in the belly as she stepped inside.

It was the most beautiful room she had set eyes on. The French windows surrounding the large room made it bright and sunny. The warm yellow of the feature wall made it appear warm and Rogue felt instantly like she could do very well there. While the room looked newly painted, the old furnishings of white-painted wood kept it in character with the rest of the house. Rogue had to resist the desire to run and jump onto the old canopy bed, for fear of selling herself off as one of the _impulsive youngin's_ Tante Mattie half-disapproved of. Instead she settled on putting a hand to her fast pulsing heart and gape. Tante Mattie had to speak to break the new trance.

"Will it do _chér? _I was not entirely sure about de colour..._mais_ we can always chang-"

The woman was stunned to silence when the younger woman turned with a start of surprise.

"No! Ah mean- _no. _This- this is _perfect_ Tante. Truly."

The old woman couldn't have looked more proud of her work as she beamed a kind, warm smile. A moment later, she pulled Rogue into a gentler hug and afterwards grasped her hands in hers and said with the beginnings of tears in her eyes.

"Its wonderful t' have y' here Marie. I hope y' will be happy here wit' us."

Rogue squeezed Tante Mattie's hand and returned the smile.

"Ah'm _certain_ that ah will Tante."

Tante Mattie gave a vigorous nod before releasing her hands and dabbing her almost-leaking eye with her apron. She gave a small chuckle, a smile still spread across her lips as she composed herself before speaking.

"Well den, I will leave y' t' unpack _et_ later I'll have y' meet lil' Madeleine. She was very anxious t' meet y' _mais_ she spent de day wit' her Tante Mercy dis mornin'. _Désole_-"

Rogue shook her head.

"It's no issue. Ah'll gladly meet her when she gets home Tante. Ah have t' admit, ah'm anxious t' meet her too."

Tante gave a knowing smile.

"No doubt Logan warned you that she's quite a handful?" 

Rogue gave a warm smile.

"He did but trust meh, after the last four years ah've had at the Xavier Academy. This lil' darlin' is gonna beh a bundle o' heaven."

Tante Mattie gave a burst of laughter. She held a hand to her heart to compose herself again before replying her young friend's bemused look.

"Forgive me chil', _mais_ as much as I love de _petite_. Even I know dat she is a wild little one. Y' may find y'self takin' back y' kind words."

Rogue shrugged.

"We'll have t' see then."

The two women shared a last smile before Tante Mattie departed. Rogue closed the door behind her and lingered only a moment before turning her eyes on the grand canopy bed up against the yellow wall. A bright grin spread across her lips. Throwing caution to the wind, she ran to the bed and flung herself onto the tall mattress and the mountain of pillows upon it.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_**REVIEW! Next up, meeting Madeleine the resident runt.**_

_**-Gams**_


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